A pair of Eastern Conference teams on the right side of the playoff cut line take the floor in search of a victory on the shores of Lake Erie. The Miami Heat are on the road as they make the trip up the eastern seaboard to face the Cleveland Cavaliers Tuesday night. Miami comes in off a 122-117 road loss to the Hornets Sunday afternoon in their previous contest, losing outright as a 5.5-point favorite. Cleveland pasted the Clippers 122-99 at home in their previous game Sunday evening, covering the line as an 11-point favorite. In the all-time regular season series between the teams, the Heat own a 74-49 advantage but it was the Cavaliers earning a 113-87 home win in the first meeting this season on November 20, 2022.
I just won $14,619 in parlay tickets in the month of November and hit a 47-1 parlay to kick off the New Year plus three more four-teamers worth m ore than $3,100 in the last week! Don't miss out on another big payday! Click here to get a month of my parlays for only $50 (normally $100)!
Miami saw their three-game win streak come to an end as they were knocked off on the road by the basement-dwelling Hornets on the road Sunday afternoon. The Heat entered Monday 28-23 on the season and held a 2.5-game lead on the Hawks for the top spot in the Southeast Division. In the East, the team was sixth, seven games behind Boston for the top spot: they held a one-game lead over the seventh-place Knicks for the final guaranteed playoff spot and 4.5 games ahead of 11th-place Indiana to remain in the playoff field. Against Charlotte, Miami led by four at the half and opened the second half on a 10-1 run to take a 72-59 lead with 8:32 to play in the third quarter before things unraveled. The Heat was outscored 32-14 the rest of the stanza to trail 91-86 and never got closer than two the rest of the way. Miami shot 48.4% from the field, including 10 of 31 from three-point range, and allowed the Hornets to shoot 54.2% in the game . Jimmy Butler led Miami with 28 points and seven rebounds in the loss.
The Heat enters this one 30th in the league in scoring offense with 108.6 points per game this season. Miami is 26th in the league in rebounding with 41.4 boards a contest while the team stands 23rd in assists by dishing out 23.6 dimes a night. The Heat stands 2nd in the league in scoring defense as they allow 108.4 points per game. Jimmy Butler is leading the team with 21.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 4.9 assists per contest. Tyler Herro kicks in 20.3 points plus 5.8 boards a night while Bam Adebayo chips in 21.4 points plus 10 rebounds per contest. Duncan Robinson, Kyle Lowry (12.4 points, 5.4 assists), Dewayne Dedmon, Max Strus (12.7 points), Caleb Martin (10 points, 4.7 boards), Victor Oladipo (11.4 points) and Gabe Vincent are solid role players for the Heat. Miami is 27th in the league in field goal percentage as they shoot 45.3% from the floor this season. The Heat stands 16th in threes per game by draining 11.8 triples per contest and the team is 27th in three-point shooting by hitting 33.4% from beyond the arc.
Omar Yurtseven (ankle) underwent surgery November 15 and is out indefinitely. Robinson (finger) underwent surgery January 5 and is expected to be out until early February.